Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1887-07-02
the SITUATION IN VIRGINIA
Terrible Suspense on the
cGmStOCk.
THE RELIEF DRIFT STlLE
BEING PUSHED.

The editor of the APPEAL paid
the Comstock visit on Thursday
night with the expectation that the
time was near at hand for the re-
covery of the bodies of the victims
of the Curry disaster Reaching
there about = O'Clock he found the
town in a state of anxiety and sus-
pense almost impossible to describe.
Crowds of men were gathered
about the Con. Virginia shaft wait
ing for news. Even the school
children were gathered there in
groups, and each window was filed
with men leaning upon the sill,
where they had been anxiously
waiting for hours. Never in the
history of the Comstock has there
been so much anxiety and suspense.
Many of the men at the Con. Vir-
ginia shaft are relatives of the i'm
prisoned men.
Mr.. Patton gave the writer a very
clear description of the situation.
He said:
The fire caught from some IN
known cause in the dry timbers of
the 800 station of the Curry, and
meeting the up drift of the incline
ate IT'S way down where it found
air. tried to go up the incline
from the 100, but saw the incline
was mass of, fire, and IL X IL
timbers all ablaze came tumbling
down. | retreated to the next sta
ton and began at once to bulkhead
to shut off tie draft. Having no
air to feed OIL the fire was soon
smotheIed. 1t did not burn back
west to the shaft because the tim
bers near the shaft were vet, bur it
burned away a mass Of timbers that
caused a cave. and this cave was
communicated tn the shaft. 1t is
filed up for llG feet above the sta
ton.
THE important question now to
consider is the air pipe. | think 1t
stood tbs cave from the fact that
the pressure guage shows no varia-
ton. Had the pipe collapsed the
air would blow { IF at the receiver.
and if the pipe had been broken
and air allowed To escape 1t would
come up the shaft. When the fire
started the valves were closed at
the lower end, and the air blew
off, but as soon aS the miners
reached the valve they turned it.
The air was delivered at the rate of
1900 cutie feet IA minute.
1T is generally believed that the
men are close to the spot where the
relief drift Is tn strike. | think,
however that they retreated to the
East crosscut that runs from the
1900 North drift from the Gould &
Curry, and there bulkheaded. The |
crosscut is mo>tl, filed with waste
rock, and between the waste and |
bulkhead would be- 50 or 81 feet of |
space where the compressed air |
would go and force the gas back. |
This spot is about 30 feet from |
where We expect tn tap the drift. |
| account for the delay in making
the connection by the fact that the |
surveys are not accurate. The sur
veys are made by compass, and the
needle is detected By local causes,
such as iron in the rock. This
would make a fault either way of
ten feet. In the morning we will
have reached the level of the West
crosscut. and then make straight
for it hy horizontal DRIFT.
DO think the men are alive?
There is chance. They have air
and water, and men can live ten
days in their condition. They are
IA sort of stupor, now, if alive
About 10 o'clock on Thursday
night The Miners Union sent a del
egation to Mr.. Patton to ask if they
could be allowed to break down the
hulkhead and go up the incline
Mr.. Patton said if they considered
The venture possible he would al
low them to do so, but he consid
cred it dangerous, as it would give
air to the smoldering FIRE and also
endanger their own lives. If, how
ever, they wanted to go he would
meet them at 10 o'clock on Friday
morning. They said the Union
&C 1